Beyond the Cave
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�أ�شخا�ص lifestyle Alexandria, Egypt Beyond The Cave Egyptian artist Wael Shawky shares his memories of growing up in Mecca, and why he’s building Alexandria’s first alternative art school A black-haired man ambles through a bland Amsterdam which encouraged me to use my imagination all the time, supermarket, his pace steady, his gaze determined. Face to to fill in the void of social activities. Almost all of my current the camera, he rattles off an uninterrupted stream of Arabic, work contains what I experienced during this period.’ as if delivering an ambulant news report in monotone. Aloof, Unsurprisingly, much of this work involves religion. vaguely interested shoppers dart past him as he slaloms ‘What’s interesting about Wael,’ Lebanese gallerist Andrée through stacks of cabbage and grazes displays of toilet rolls. Sfeir-Semler once shared in an interview, ‘and what’s In a single take, he tells the Qur’anic tale of young ‘sleepers’ different about his work compared to that of other who hid in a cave, only to wake up 300 years later, utterly conceptual artists, is the way he takes religion into account.’ out of sync with the world. Shawky himself is quick to spot a link to his formative Saudi The roving narrator is Egyptian artist Wael Shawky. The years. Works like ‘The Cave’, ‘Al Aqsa Park’ (imagine the 12-minute film, his 2005 work ‘The Cave’ (Amsterdam). Dome of the Rock as an amusement park joy ride), the rarely This single piece (one of two in which the artist actually seen ‘Digital Church’ (imagine The Cave set in a Catholic appears) epitomises the pedigree of this rising-star artist, church) and the ongoing video series ‘Cabaret Crusades’ whose approach is as nimble as it is challenging. (Amin Maalouf’s book ‘The Crusades Through Arab Eyes’ Wael Shawky’s signature is that he never makes as marionette musical theatre) all manipulate religion, yet a statement in his art. He is adamantly neutral. The viewer the artist’s stance remains steadfastly ambiguous.† is left to wallow in an ambient uneasiness, unsure how to Shawky admits to being fascinated by the metaphysical resolve the questions raised by the tensions in his work – an world, so it seems somehow logical that magic should spark unorthodox artistic strategy, to say the least, particularly his artistic curiosity. ‘Al Araba al Madfuna’, a video and for an artist wielding such slippery issues as spirituality, erstwhile installation that premiered at Berlin’s KW consumerism, authority and the spectacle of globalisation. Institute for Contemporary Art in August 2012, is a surreal Shawky has the gentle affability that has long been an tale of human greed, with a cast of confounded elders Egyptian hallmark, his broad features animated by a candid (played by children) and shamanistic treasure-hunters energy. His growing international acclaim has resulted in digging for pharaonic relics, set in the eponymous Upper prolonged absences from his hometown of Alexandria. Yet Egyptian village. the most telling chapter of his life unfolded not in the land Less magical and more mystical, the premier of ‘Dictums of the pharaohs, but in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ‘I grew 10:120’ at the Sharjah Biennial 11 in 2013 was a watershed up in Mecca in the 70s,’ he reveals, ‘and Saudi Arabia had moment in Shawky’s nearly 20-year career. The Sharjah a huge impact on me as an artist. As a kid, I was a bit isolated, Art Foundation’s Witness Programme, an international Egyptian artist Wael Shawky's work was most 031 01 �أ�شخا�ص photographer writer 030 Pauline Beugnies Kevin Jones recently featured in Sharjah Biennial 11 residency in which the artist participated during Sharjah Biennial 10, was the initial breeding ground for the concept, articulated around the idea of the Biennial’s public. Two years later, after extensive research and a timely epiphany by a Sharjah Art Foundation staffer, ‘Dictums 10:120’ sprang melodiously to life. In a narrow, sun-drenched alleyway snaking between the Foundation’s newly built spaces, two human columns of South Asian musicians line the walls. Dressed in crisp tunics, the 30 men sit cross-legged on pastel-coloured cushions, eyes fixed on two rock-star-status qawwals, Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad, perched on the podium before them like twin leaders at the helm of a galley of musical oarsmen. The qawwals wave, the music starts. Syncopated drums are a counterpoint to the musicians’ fluid hand-claps, as the qawwals’ Urdu chants ricochet off the walls, echoed by the chorus of seated men. This qawwali song is the heir to a centuries-old tradition of Sufi devotional music. It is also a bold piece of contemporary art. The lyrics of the song are in fact Urdu-translated snippets 02 from curatorial talks held during Sharjah Biennial 10 (the 10:120 of the title mimicking the partition of sacred texts into books, verses, suras). ‘The curatorial text is holy,’ says Shawky, somewhat ironically, before embarking on an † who thronged to the performances), yet it was indecipherable explanation of how workshops with the Foundation’s Amin Maalouf's book for the assembled denizens of the art world. ‘Ultimately, primarily Pakistani technical crews pitted the workers 'The Crusades Through this is a work about power,’ confides Shawky. ‘The curatorial against the sacrosanct rhetoric of art: they deconstructed Arab Eyes' offers an discourse is delivered by them,’ pointing to the rows of art-speak and made a song out of it. alternative history South Asian singers/clappers. Clearly, the work questions Much noise has recently surrounded the overuse of a of the crusades institutional authority, while a verse like, ‘As Jack said, we particular strain of obtuse art world jargon, sarcastically want to be as close as possible/To the street without labelled International Art English. In ‘Dictums 10:120’, this ‡ smothering the street,’ with its reference to ousted Sharjah metalanguage is, for once, fully accessible to the Urdu Applicants to MASS Biennial 10 director Jack Persekian, also spotlights this speakers who comprise much of Sharjah’s community (and Alexandria should be Biennial’s stated intention of engaging with the community. between 18 and 26 years Although he has been in the international eye of art circles of age. No former work for many years, ‘Dictums 10:120’ truly seemed to hurl experience is required, Shawky even further into the limelight: ‘Everyone I talk to and the programme tells me about this work. I really can’t understand how so costs seven euros or 50 many people have seen it!’ Such is the state of Shawky’s Egyptian pounds rising celebrity. ‘The best part about this fame is that I don’t have time to think about it [laughs]. But it is a beautiful feeling – that you can speak a universal human language, escaping the limitations of locality.’ When he is in his ‘locality’, it is mostly to spend time with his ‘students’. In 2010, Shawky founded MASS Alexandria, the first independent studio programme for young artists in Egypt.‡ ‘Essentially, I don’t have a studio today. I gave it to MASS,’ he explains, referencing the sacrifice of his 400 square metre basement space in the working class Miami neighbourhood to the residency programme he now runs. The idea is to have a group of students making work in the Alexandria studio space every six months. Add to this a programme of talks, lectures, seminars and a guest list of visiting artists, curators and educators that reads like a who’s who of contemporary visual culture. Artist Francis Alÿs was a recent recruit from Shawky’s stint in Sharjah. According to the artist, there is no proper art education 0201 03 03 system in Alexandria. Of course, there is his alma mater, Dictums 10:120', performance view. Image 02 MASS Alexandria's studio space in Miami 033' 01 �أ�شخا�ص lifestyle Alexandria, Egypt 032 courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation 03 Shawky with his wife on the beach in Alexandria The best part about this fame is that I don’t have time to think about it Wael Shawky 01 02 Al Araba al Madfuna'; image courtesy of 02 'Cabaret Crusades, The Horror Show File'; image 035' 01 �أ�شخا�ص lifestyle Alexandria, Egypt 034 Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg courtesy of Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg the Alexandria Academy of Fine Arts, but an indolent regime During this year's The Egyptian cultural landscape has vastly changed, as had pretty much forsaken it, letting it fade into dusty Sharjah Biennial 11, of late. The disappearance of the non-commercial art space uniformity. Carefully choosing his words in what seems Shawky took home one Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF) has, locally like a moment of self-imposed political correctness, the of two awards for an at least, intensified the attention on successful initiatives artist explains that MASS is not intended to replace, but to exceptional contribution like MASS. In Cairo, a spate of alternative art spaces has extend and enhance the traditional system. Shawky speaks to SB11 for 'Dictums cropped up, such as the confusingly named, context- passionately about MASS, likening it to a ‘small academy’ 10:120'. Tiffany Chung responsive Beirut, in Agouza, and the artist-run Nile Sunset which seems even to have claimed its place in the won the second award, Annex. ‘These new entities are necessary,’ he agrees, ‘but community. ‘Because MASS is a basement,’ he recalls, ‘we for her set of they need to be sustained, which is hard.’ used it for the first days of the revolution as a bunker for cartographic drawings A question about his future projects brings a glint to the entire street.